Honor To Us All
by Kammie Celeek
Summary: When Ganondorf and his Yiga clan followers invade Hyrule, an army is raised to fight the threat. Zelda decides to fight in her battle-wounded father's place, disguising her identity in order to pass as a man to her fellow soldiers and her commanding officer, Link. Based off Disney's Mulan.


Night had fallen in Hyrule.

Despite this, the lights from the castle were still lit, still burning as those within waited with bated breath. The king paced anxiously in his chambers for news, glancing up at the door every so often. Princess Tetra stood outside her mother's room, where her mother was laboring to bring the newest member of the royal family into the world. For months, she'd waited to meet her younger sibling and now they were finally on their way. Queen Lisbeth was alone within her room with only the Sheikah midwife who'd delivered Tetra three years earlier to help her give birth.

But something was wrong.

Lisbeth was weak. Weaker than she should've been. Her breathing was ragged as her already-fair-skinned face was paling from the effort of bringing her new child into the world. The golden hair that she so prided herself on and that she'd passed onto Tetra was lank and limp, the liveliness fading from her bright blue eyes with each passing contraction. Those same eyes rested on the strengthening herbs that Payaz was supposed to have given her to help the pain and help her bring the baby into the world.

Instead, the Sheikah woman stood by the bed and watched. Waiting, like the rest of the castle, for the baby to be born. But she waited for the baby because she knew the queen would not survive. Many Sheikah had been waiting for this night when the new member of the royal family would come. They had been waiting to make a move. And now, as soon as the child was born, Payaz would signal the others and they would run for the deserts where Lord Ganondorf had been exiled. She would take the infant with her and the child would be raised by the new clan—not the Sheikah, but the Yiga.

"Payaz!" called Lisbeth, her voice desperate and waning.

"It will be over soon, Your Majesty," Payaz told her, smiling. "I promise."

"Something's wrong—_Payaz_! Please!"

"Shhhh…"

Lisbeth screamed and her voice faded as quickly as her heartbeat. A new cry joined hers as she passed, the cry of a newborn baby girl. Payaz signaled out the window to the others and they began their rebellion as she wrapped the infant in swaddling cloth. She ran out of the room, passing by the waiting princess.

"Payaz!" called Tetra, before she noticed the screaming bundle in the woman's arms. She rushed after the Yiga woman, desperate. "Wait! Where's Mama?! What's going—"

Payaz whirled around, causing Tetra to stumble and fall.

"Your Highness, your mother is dead. And you will never see your sister again."

Tetra stared as Payaz leapt through a window onto a horse. Running to peer through it, she saw several other former Sheikah joining the treacherous midwife. Tears burned in her bright blue eyes, the eyes her mother had passed onto her, and she couldn't do anything to stop them as they fell.

In the days to come, she would relay the message from Payaz to her father and to the guards, but they wouldn't take action. In their eyes, Lisbeth had died in childbirth and the baby with her and Tetra had been the victim of a cruel vision in order to cope with her mother's death. But she knew it had been real. And she knew that she would prove it someday, somehow. For the time being, she played the part of the grieving daughter and erstwhile older sister, watching two coffins being lowered into the royal crypt.

One of those coffins was tiny and empty.

* * *

As the Yiga clan rode southward, Payaz took up the rear with the newborn princess in her arms. If they were caught by the guards, she'd be able to give them the princess and allow for the clan to escape. But as of yet, they hadn't been stopped. She was confident that they would make it to the desert without any trouble.

In the cliffs nearby, surrounding the small village of Ordon, there was a young guardsman. His name was Rusl and he had his sights on Payaz as she rode through. Carefully he took aim with his bow and shot an arrow towards her.

The arrow found its mark.

She screamed as the projectile lodged itself in her shoulder and fell from her horse. She cushioned the crying infant in her arms. In the distance, the rest of the clan rode onward, leaving her behind. Payaz struggled to her feet, managing to grab the bridle of her horse as Rusl approached.

"Damn Hylian!" she hissed.

"You're one of the Yiga clan, aren't you?" he asked, unsheathing his sword. She threw the infant at him and he caught the baby, dropping his blade in the process as Payaz clambered back onto her horse.

She was gone before Rusl could grab his bow again.

"Dammit…" He looked down at the child in his arms and she continued wailing. "Shhh… it's alright, little one."

"Rusl!" a voice called. He looked up to see Fado running towards him. "Where'd the Yiga clan member go?"

"She escaped. But she left this baby."

"We'd better tell Bo. Come on."

They headed back to the village, where Bo was waiting with Jaggle. In the light, Rusl could see the baby much more clearly. It was a little girl with the long pointed ears typical of Hylian nobility. A light dusting of gold was on her head, her eyes pale blue and full of terrified tears. Rusl held her close.

"This child is all that the Yiga clan left behind?" inquired Bo.

"She isn't one of theirs," insisted the young guardsman. "She has the ears of Hylian nobility and she doesn't look like a Sheikah. But I doubt we could find her actual parents. More than likely they were killed and she was kidnapped."

"What should we do, then?"

"Uli and I can take her, if that's all right with you."

"It's fine with me. Are you prepared to take care of a child? You haven't been married long…"

"She needs somebody. And I can feel a connection with her already."

"Well, then… good luck."

Rusl carefully rocked the baby as he walked towards his little house by the river. Uli was already asleep but she awoke as he entered. Her eyes immediately went to the bundle in his arms.

"Rusl, what…"

"Don't ask any questions. The queen is dead and this is the princess. She needs us. In the eyes of the kingdom, she's as gone as her mother."

Uli took the infant from him and began to rock her gently, the princess falling asleep with ease. Rusl set down his weapons. From his pocket, he pulled the letter he'd gotten by messenger hawk earlier in the evening telling him of the Yiga clan's rebellion and the queen's death. It had stated that the baby was dead, too, but the child in Uli's arms was very much alive.

"If she's the princess, we need to give her a name befitting a princess," Uli stated.

"There is one name that has lasted throughout Hyrule's history," Rusl sighed, sitting on the bed beside his wife. "Zelda."

"Our daughter, Zelda." Uli smiled and went over to a dresser, opening the drawer of soft cloth and laying Zelda inside. "We are her parents now, for better or for worse."

"Yes. And she never needs to know the truth."

* * *

**I don't know what I'm doing.**

** So long and thanks for all the fish!**


End file.
